June 14, 2019 @ 7:30 am - 9:30 am

From casinos to cannabis, craft beer to cell therapies, the Seaport and Kendall Square, much was unforeseen just a decade ago. As we look forward, how can we maintain competitive advantages in Massachusetts as change accelerates even more rapidly?

Welcome Remarks:

Bob is New England Market Director at Santander Commercial Banking, and leads a team of experienced corporate and middle market bankers and is responsible for managing and growing the Bank’s commercial business throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. With more than two decades of experience in Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking, Bob is known as a disciplined strategic thinker and brings deep expertise in a number of industries to deliver multi-faceted debt, risk management and integrated banking solutions to Santander’s growing base of multinational, national and regional clients. Bob holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Pittsburgh, a certificate in finance from the London School of Economics and a Master’s Degree from St. John’s University.

Introductory Remarks:

A 30-year commercial real estate veteran, Andy leads a team of more than 400 real estate professionals including leasing, financing, management and sales specialists for all commercial property types. Andy has personally arranged over 700 lease transactions in the New England region. Throughout his career, Andy has been consistently recognized as one of the top senior professionals in the commercial real estate industry due to his exceptional level of professionalism, value-add approach, diligent focus on client service and his tremendous sense of integrity.

Moderator:

Carolyn Jones, Market President and Publisher, Boston Business Journal

Carolyn is the Market President of the Boston Business Journal, a weekly business newspaper and website, bostonbusinessjournal.com. In this capacity, she is responsible for overall operations, including advertising, audience development, news, internet activities, programs and events and achieving revenue and profit goals. Prior to becoming publisher at the BBJ in November of 2015, Carolyn had been the publisher of the Albany Business Review, in Albany NY, and was in that role since 1998. The Business Review is a sister publication of the BBJ, both owned by American City Business Journals, which owns 43 business journals across the country. Carolyn joined the ABR in 1987 and worked as an account executive and then advertising director before taking on the publisher role. Previously, she worked as an assistant editor for Home Box Office in New York, NY. Carolyn is on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Mass Bay, advisory board member of Center for Women & Enterprise; Board Member of the March of Dimes and a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum.

Panel Discussion

Mike Kennealy, Secretary of Housing & Economic Development

Mike is responsible for advancing the Baker-Polito Administration’s agenda to create economic opportunity for residents, collaborative leadership in communities, an environment that supports job creation and business growth, and new housing for residents through targeted investments. In early 2015, Mike joined the Administration as Assistant Secretary for Business Growth. As Assistant Secretary, Mike played an integral role in advancing the administration’s strategy for job creation and business development across the entire Commonwealth and provided leadership in key sectors, including serving as co-chair of the board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Mike combines a successful track record in the private sector with a strong commitment to the public good.

Dougan Sherwood, President and CEO, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce

Last year, Dougan moved his career to Haverhill in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley to focus on local and community centered economic development. For more than 10 years, Dougan was part of Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), one of the oldest and largest shared office and co-working spaces in the world. In that time, Dougan served oversaw operations for all of CIC’s expansion locations throughout the U.S. Dougan is also a contributing partner of the Greater Haverhill Foundation, a redevelopment fund, and sits on the Board of Directors for Youth CITIES, a program that introduces students to social entrepreneurship, as well as a number of community-based initiatives in Haverhill.

Lauren Jones, State Director, Apprenti

Lauren has over 13 years of experience spanning local and state government as well as the private and non-profit sectors with a focus especially on business marketing and economic and workforce development. Prior to joining Apprenti, Lauren spearheaded partner programming for HUBweek, the region’s innovation festival, managing collaborative events and initiatives with over 200 companies. While working in local government, Lauren created and led the Business Strategy Unit for the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in the City of Boston.

Rick Sullivan, President and CEO, Western Mass Economic Development Council

Before heading the EDC, Rick was Governor Deval Patrick’s top advisor and worked with all members of his Cabinet to advance the Administration’s agenda. Prior to being named Patrick’s Chief of Staff, Rick served as Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, overseeing the Commonwealth’s six environmental, natural resource and energy regulatory agencies. He also served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the Energy Facilities Siting Board, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. and as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Rick served as the Mayor of Westfield from 1994 to 2007 and, in that capacity, chairman of the Westfield School Committee. He is a past president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association, past chairman of the Turnpike Advisory Board, and a past member of the Governor’s Local Advisory Committee.

Like so many across the globe, due to Covid-19, MassEcon is not working from the office for the foreseeable future, but we’re still up and running. With much consideration, we will not be holding in-person meetings until at least mid-July, but will be holding committee meetings via conference call, strategizing on how to bring you programming and business opportunities, and building our membership. Feel free to reach out to any of our staff with questions, concerns, or ideas on how we can continue to work together through this time. We wish you the best during this difficult time.